Category

Downtown

The music venue The Listening Room Cafe has had many incarnations. Founded by Chris Blair, it first appeared in Franklin in 2006. Blair moved it to Cummins Station in 2008, and again to its current location on 4th Avenue un 2012. And it is on 4th Avenue that we find on a stark white wall this sign featuring The Listening Room’s logo, created by Michael Cooper of Murals and More. On the bottom right of the photo, you can see his usual signature, which as always includes his phone number.

Located at 618 4th Avenue South. There is some limited parking at the Listening Room and some street parking on Elm Street. As the mural faces a parking lot, your best bet is to visit early in the day, well before show time. Enjoy the music and enjoy the art!

Located at 701 Eight Ave South. The mural is on the north side of the building, facing a short street labeled Division Street (not to be confused with the other Division Street one block south). There is some limited free street parking as well as metered and pay parking nearby, and just a few spaces at Jackalope’s.

As long as the moon shall rise, as long as the rivers flow
As long as the sun will shine, as long as the grass shall grow

Located at 144 Fifth Avenue North, the address of the L & C Garage. It lies directly behind the Downtown Presbyterian Church. Obviously, there is parking, but as this is downtown, so none of the nearby parking is free.

Sometimes, art sneaks up on you. I’ve driven by this wall of giant ticket stubs at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium/Musician’s Hall of Fame and Museum many times and it took a while for it to register as art. If you peruse the many, many articles out there about the “20 Murals You Must See In Nashville!” you’ll be hard pressed to find it. Yet given all the concertgoers who pass by it, it has definitelybeeninalotofInstagramshots. Indeed, it seems a little unnatural to post a daytime photo of it because nighttime is when people usually saddle up next to it for a photo, though Nashville Ballet was there in the daylight a couple years ago for some publicityshots. The mural seems to have gone up probably in 2016 and certainly wasn’t there in 2013. The oldest ticket shown is from an April 4, 1965 Peter Paul & Mary show, while the newest is a Lady Antebellum ticket for a February 22, 2012 show. Both are found in the collum next to the doors, near the top. The mural is printed, not painted. There are individual giant stubs inside.

Located at 417 4th Avenue North. The mural actually faces James Roberston Parkway, on the auditorium’s east side. This is downtown, so parking is nearby, none of it free.

I don’t often do very new work, but as this is a paper image in an outdoor setting, and is by nature ephemeral, so I want to post about it now before it’s gone. It’s a Brian Wooden piece and fits in a style we’ve already seen in works like the one I featured in Striding. Based on his Instagram feed, it’s a fairly new piece (that link is dated August 20) and there are others like it. You can even get a holographic sticker with the same design. If you want your selfie with this one, go soon. The paper is already peeling a bit.

Located on the 800 block of 12th Avenue North. There are railroad tracks behind Marathon Village. This installation in on the south side of the I-40 bridge over those tracks, facing Marathon Village. There is gravel lot right next to this installation.

This blog is devoted to outdoor art, and the mural above mostly qualifies, as it is just inside the 5th Avenue entrance to the L&C Parking Garage and if the wind blows from any westerly or northern direction, the rain would definitely hit it. And why does a portrait of Pat Reedy grace a parking garage wall? Because in the basement of the same garage is The Vinyl Bunker, a record store owned by Jason Galaz (the artist who made the mural) and is also headquarters for Muddy Roots, the music festival and record label. And no surprise, Reedy records for that label. So, synergy?

Located at 144 5th Avenue North. The entrance to the garage opens on to the alley behind Downtown Presbyterian Church. Look for the giant mural of words (which I have not yet featured on the blog) – this mural is just below that one.

The mural that graces the parking lot of the Downtown Presbyterian Church is difficult to photograph, as it faces a narrow lot and there are usually cars parked in front of it. Turns out, Sunday evening on Labor Day weekend is the time to get a clean shot. The work, done in 2007, is by four artists. The giant angel and the billy goat are by John Grider, the long-legged beasts are by Isaac Arvold, the colorful mountain by Drew Peterson, and the geometric “clouds” are by Eric Inkala. The mural indicates that it was made possible by the church and by Twist Art Gallery, which closed a few years ago. Grider has done both the goat and the angel in other places. There are other murals close by, including one that faces this same parking lot I haven’t featured yet.

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Located at 154 5th Ave North. That’s the address of the church. The mural is actually on the side of 415 Church Street. The parking lot is best accessed from the alley that parallels Church Street behind the Presbyterian Church. This is downtown, so lots of parking, virtually none of it free.

It seems that jamersonsgc is on a mission. Several pieces of his have appeared along and near the Lafayette Street corridor in the general vicinity of the JC Napier Homes. This piece is on the back side of Tito’s Gyro Grill on Lafayette. (They don’t have a website or social media presence.) The pan-African themes are pretty evident in this piece. Look close at the face (below) and you’ll see a number of mathematical equations as well. While it isn’t signed per se, Low Key Art is a tagline Jamerson uses. He also did a skyline on the front of the building (which is partially obscured by a sign) – see below. And he has updated the piece I featured in Low key bee, so look for new photos on that post soon.

Locat at 13 Lafayette Street. This is just a few steps from the complicated intersection with 2nd Avenue South and McCann Street. It is conceivable to park along the gravel driveway that links Lafayette and 2nd, or in the yard in front of the mural, though that’s not certain. Tito’s has very limited parking. You could also try parking on McCann.

No, I didn’t misspell “revive.” This Nashville Walls Project mural is by Beau Stanton and was done in collaboration with Rivive, a non-profit that looks to raise awareness about and improve river resources in the Nashville area. So talk to them about my spell checker going nuts! The water theme is clear, with a Greco-Roman woman pouring out water, along with fish and other water life. Blanton has some nice photos on his website (including a timelapse video) as does Nashville Walls Project (including photos of the production on the mural). It’s a hard mural to shoot, given its enormous size and the fact there is a building across the street. Certainly, it makes the downtown version of Blush easy to find! (The writing on the far corner of the building is part of another mural I haven’t blogged about yet.)

Located at 144 5th Avenue North. This is downtown, so there is plenty of parking, none of it free.